Amaç: Bu yazının amacı S. Beckett'in “Godot’yu Beklerken" oyununda ortaya konan felsefi, psikolojik ve kültürel çerçeveden hareket ederek Dinar 'da 1 Ekim 1995 gerçekleşen şiddetli depremden sonra ortaya çıkan bekleme durumunu anlamak ve yorumlamaktır. Yöntem: Ekim 1995'de - Şubat 1997 arasında Dinar ’a beş araştırma gezisi yapılmış ve bu araştırma gezileri sırasında Dinarlılarla ve Dinar Depremiyle ilgilenen Dinarlı ve Dinarlı olmayan görevlilerle derinlemesine görüşmeler, odak-grup görüşmeleri ve anketler yapılmıştır. Bu yazıda kullanılan veriler daha çok derinlemesine ve odak-gruplar halinde yapılan görüşmelerden elde edilmiştir. Bulgular: Bu yazıya kılavuzluk eden en önemli fikir, S. Beckett ’in yaratıcı bir sanatçı olarak bu dünyadaki insan ve toplum durumuna ilişkin olarak ulaştığı görüşlerin şiddetli bir deprem afeti geçirmiş olan bir yerel toplum tarafından yaşanmış olmasıdır. Genel anlamda insan varoluşu ile ilgili felsefi sorunları çözmek elimizde olmayabilir, ancak bir afet sonrası büyük yıkımlara uğramış bir toplumda başarılı bir afet yönetimi sistemini en etkili biçimde çalıştırmak toplum olarak elimizdedir ve gerekmektedir. Tartışma: Toplumun şiddetli bir sarsılmayla, depremle veya benzeri bir afetle, köklerinden ayrılması veyayerinden çıkması hem deprem sonrasında toplumun dağılmasına, ve de Tarih-öncesi mitolojileri bile kollektif hafızaya ekleyerek yeniden kurulmasına yol açmıştır. Bu mekanı yıkılmış ve zaman içine savrulmuş olan toplumda afet beklentisinin, korkunun, hatırlamanın ve unutuşun önemli süreçler olduğu gözlenmiştir. Böyle bir süreç içine girmiş toplumda afet yönetiminin etkili olabilmesi için olayın sosyo-psikolojik ve felsefi-kültürel boyutlarının çok iyi anlaşılması gerektiği bu çalışma boyunca tekrar tekrar ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu boyutlar anlaşıldıktan sonra bina sahipleri, yükleniciler, mühendis ve mimarlar ile meslek odaları, belediyeler, yerel ve merkezi düzeydeki yetkili kuruluşların eşgüdümleri sağlanarak depreme dayanıklı evler ve kamu binalarının bütün deprem kuşağındaki yerleşimlerde gerçekleştirilmesi gerektiği anlaşılmaktadır. Bu yazıda deprem sonrasında yaşanan felsefi, psikolojikve kültürel süreçler, afet yönetimi sisteminin kurulması sorunu parantez içinde askıya alınarak tartışılmıştır.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to make an attempt to understand the situation of Dinar people after the October 1995 Earthquake in the philosophical, psychological and cultural framework of S. Beckett’s "Waiting for Godot". Method: Data used in the present paper was gathered through in depth and focus-group interviews with key informants/experts/officials, various groups from the communities in Dinar and outside. These interviews together with two sets of questionnaires were administered during five field trips carried in the period between October, 1995 and February, 1997. In the present paper results of interviews and observations rather than quantitative data from questionnaires were used. Results: One of the main observations during the field trips to the disaster stricken community, Dinar, was great suffering and psychological distress, mainly, in the forms of irritability, forgetfulness, fear/anxiety and waiting for the State intervention and help in matters of rescue and relief temporary settlement and reconstruction. This waitingfor the “paternalistic" State and thephilosophy depicted in S. Beckett’s "Waitingfor Godot"put forth striking parallels. This paper is focused upon the explication of these parallels. It is impossible to relieve humanity o f the general existential anxiety of waiting for arbitrary and whimsical “Godot". However, with a better organized disaster management system and community participation, it might be possible to reduce suffering, fear, and distress o f a community exposed to a shocking disaster. Discussion: One o f the points that repeatedly emerged during the present research was the urgent need to understand pschö-social and philosophical- cultural aspects o f life in a disaster stricken community. The present paper focused mainly on psychological, philosophical and cultural concerns of the residents in the community, by excluding engineering, economic and social aspects of disaster management. The people in Dinar were continuously talking about their experiences during the earthquake and the aftermaih; but they were also talking about how relief and rescue operations were uncoordinated, mainly because members of the district and provincial rescue teams were themselves victims. Officials and rescue teams themselves were in great distress and anxiety. It seems necessary to institute psychological Services for the community, to organize activities that will give the opportunity to ventilate theirfeelings cindMi educate officials on the psychological State of the community. The community, furthermore, needs to be informed about the rescue, relief and rehabilitation programs regularly andsystematically. The temporary settlement decision based on a survey with Dinar residents led to preference of monthly rent allowance to be paid to severe and medium damaged house owners by the State. This caused problems such as the mass desertion o f the city site in favor of nearby cities, separation of family members, bussing o f children for schools, skyrocketing of rents in nearby cities, and staying in tents. The views of Dinar residents on the reconstruction of Dinar have centered arohndparticular concerns. Thefirst was related to characteristics of reconstruction. Limiting the number of floors to one or two storeys was one of their concerns. As a second concern it was stressed that the supervision of concrete compositions, sand, Steel details, ete. should be done by “honest" engineers. It was also stressed that the municipalities should not have the responsibility for issuing permits, and that this responsibility should be transferred to the State. This is in conflict with recent demoeratization and decentralization trends in Turkey. Although community and Citizen participation was down played with preference for “paternalistic State supervision ", a midway suggestion was also made. This was suggestion in the direetion of formation o f community groups comprised of individuals from dijferent profes- sions which can monitor and evaluate building construction. The third issue brought up about reconstruction was on the need to educate engineers and skilled \vorkers in earthquake resistant construction. Finally, in the earlier phases there was a concern and confusion about the location o f the reconstruction site. Some believed that the settlement plan needed to be located in areas with stronger soil condition, whereas the others seemed to believe that as long as the building codes are abided reconstruction canof approval o f projects, monitoring-supervision and legal responsibility for substandard buildingpractices. This system might be revised to integrate com- munity participation. Municipalities are responsible for the revision of settle- mentplans and for the approval o f buildingprojects, and due to some shortcom- ings (technical, practical andpolitical) this system seems to be inadequate for the enforcement of building codes and the monitoring of building practices. Furthermore, construction workers need to be trained on appropriate building practices. Thus, the institution of intersectoral professional training teams and community participation may prove to be invaluable in strengthening the disas- ter management and may lead to sustainable developments in mitigation. These are concrete analyses and suggestions to improve the lot of people exposed to a serious disastersuch as October 1995 Earthquake in Dinar. The characters in S. Beckett’s “Waitingfor Godot” experience an existential thrownnes anddisloca- tion; dialogs and unending production of discourses might be one way to cope with such existential anxiety. But in a disaster stricken community an extreme and unbearable dislocation, anxiety, fear and distress are experienced. The present paper attempted to capture this suffering in its various aspects. The discourses of characters in S. Beckett’s “Waitingfor Godot” was very relevantfor depicting suffering experienced in the process of waiting. Waiting might be for paternal- istic State help or for the prevention of another disaster; nevertheless, the suffering has been experienced with varying intensities. It might be also hoped that instead o f passively waiting for an external savior, cotnmunity members might tum into relatively autonomous citizens, transforming their community into a rationally organized, democratic and decentralized system. This is also waitingfor Godot, but with a more active and optimistic orientation. take place in previous locations. According to the new settlement plan for Dinar, the State constructed “disaster housing” in previous locations with four storey buildings. The plan also contains buildings with shops in the basement. Considering the views of the community and local officials on the need to restrict the number of storeys in Dinar, it seems that some fear/ anxiety has been experienced by resettled residents. The community may benefit from information on building characteristics for reinforced concrete and masonry buildings and the relationship between soil conditions and construction practices. Dinar community seemed to be very aware of the lack o f control mechanisms in building construction and developing a system of community participation for evaluation and monitoring., Building community participation mechanisms will be very fruitful in strengthening par- ticipatory attitudes which may bring sustainability in control systems. Majör deficiencies exist in the system o f building construction which involves the steps